Scene one: At a pub, having had a few drinks with a friend. You finish your drink and excuse yourself to use the restroom with a comment about having to leave. As it is you have stayed a little too long. You come back to your table to say your final goodbye to find that your friend has bought you another drink. You try to beg out, but they insist that not accepting their good deed would be a personal affront.

Scene two: Going through your closet looking for something, you have to move several things that you have never used or even taken out their packaging. Having satisfied yourself that what you are looking for is not in that particular closet you toy with the idea of getting rid of those useless items. But, since they were gifts given to you by a person that uses such a slight as leverage against you, you put them back in the closet.

Scene three: Someone you know arrives with a huge smile on their face. From behind their back they produce a random gift… it not being your birthday or anything. You instantly see that it is something you have no interest in and will end up in the closet. Yet, you feel pressured to be grateful and display excitement at the thoughtful gift.

Scene four: Among a blitz of flashbulbs and fanfare, a billionaire donates something to the community that the community does not want or need. And when the taxpayers complain about have to pay to maintain and repair the billionaires selflessness, the billionaire privately grumbles about how lazy and ungrateful the people are.

Scene five: Politicians pass a spending bill to build a stadium no one wants. Then, while campaigning for the next election they proclaim their generosity and community minded spirit as their best qualities. If anyone questions this, they are dismissed as being too stupid to understand.

Scene six: You are walking from a parking lot to a grocery store. You see a soldier standing in front of the door with a coffee can in his hand and you remember that it is Armed Services Day. You hear him say to another customer entering, “Help those who sacrifice for your freedom?” In your mind, you react, ‘It is not a sacrifice if you freely choose to join the military and are eager to engage in any conflict no mater what.’ But you know it will fall on deaf ears. You also think about how you disagree with the use of force for political and economic leverage, and even how the Pentagon has admitted that their actions have made the world less safe. But, as you approach the door you fish a dollar out from your wallet and put it in the coffee can as fast as you can, without making eye contact, because you feel your anger breaking through the surface.

Later, at home, a flash of anger goes through you as you conclude the soldier knew what you were thinking, watched you repress you anger, and felt a sense of superiority as you gave a dollar anyway.

It is a display of Yin and Yang… One half of the world is trying to teach the other half how to be good children. The other half is trying to teach the first half how to be responsible adults.